With the advent of electronic controls for such appliances as microwave ovens, ranges, and clothes washers has come the need for a simple method of entering information into the control. The keyboard has fulfilled such a need by allowing a user to enter information by depressing a series of push button switches. However, the keyboard is not entirely desirable in certain instances, especially in appliances, because water and other foreign matter can collect on the surface of the keyboard as well as enter into the inside of the keyboard. To overcome the problems associated with mechanical keyboards, electronic keyboards, sometimes known as "touch plates" have been developed. A touch plate is generally sectioned off into a plurality of areas each representing certain information to be entered into the control, by touching that particular area.
In the prior art, touch plates have generally formed a part of the cabinet for the appliance with which it is used. In one of the problem areas with prior art touch plate assemblies, breakage of the touch plate glass has resulted in exposing the concealed wiring of the appliance. Therefore, in the prior art, breakage of the touch plate has resulted in a potentially dangerous shock hazard.
One method of overcoming this breakage problem has been to temper the glass so as to make it stronger. However, tempering the glass has only been effective for glass plates having a relatively large area. The problem of glass breakage of touch plates having relatively small area remains unsolved.